PLACING YOUR DOLL IN AN APPROPRIATE PRE- RAPHAELITE SETTING
Part 2
by Rachelle Spiegel
Waterhouse –I am half sick of shadows:
This picture depicts the Lady seated at her loom in
a long, romantic red dress with gold girdle. There is
a yarn shuttle and ball of yarn in her lap. To her left
is a large round mirror in which can be seen a
partial reflection of her tapestry and loom, a
medieval portico with columns and a bridge over
the river, which winds toward the towers of
Camelot in the distance. She is seated on what
appears to be a wooden peacock chair covered
with fabric or cushions. (see plans to construct one
below). The background of the painting is dark and
details are suggested rather than clearly indicated.
The floor is a black and white checkerboard. In the
left foreground there is a yarn swift (winder) filled
with white yarn on a stand. Beneath the loom is a
basket . Inside the basket and on the floor are several small balls colored yellow and
orange, which represent balls of yarn. Hanging off the side of the loom are a hank of
yarn and two filled shuttles. Although the walls are indistinct, they appear to be wood,
although it would be quite in keeping with the period for the walls to be of stone. With
this in mind, we will discuss both options below.
Room
The first requirement for an indoor scene is to have a container in which to place it.
Construct or purchase a room box – choices of materials for the under-structure are:
Wood – either purchase a ready made box or kit, or cut and assemble one yourself.
Gator Board – Must be cut with a saw and assembled– but very lightweight and rigidwill not warp if wet glue or modeling material is applied.
Foam Core –Cut with a knife and assemble. Lightweight – but will warp if you use paper
clay or other wet substance for stone.
Choices for walls
Since the background in the room is unclear in the picture, walls could be dark wood
paneling or even some kind of material that looks like stucco . Materials for these
choices are readily available online and at your local miniature store if you are lucky
enough to have one nearby. Paneling can be done just as you would in a dollhouse, either
as wainscot, or a more formal . application. Since the background in the picture is quite
dark, a dark stain on the wood would be appropriate. There are several magazine articles
that discuss wall paneling. My own choice for walls would be stone, as this was the
major medieval building material.
Stone walls
There are a number of choices for creating stone castle walls in miniature. One of the
most popular materials, and probably the easiest to use in reproducing stone in miniature,
is Creative Paperclay. It can be worked and re-worked with a little added water, until you
are satisfied with the results. It can’t be reconstituted if it is bone dry, but if the project
starts to dry while working with the medium, it can be sprayed with water to extend the
working period. A damp cloth can be placed over a work-in-progress to slow drying
while taking a short break. It is lightweight, air drying and seems to be universally loved
by miniaturists as evidenced by the many positive comments in the Small Stuff Archives.
To correct a large error that has dried, you can easily cut the offending piece out with a
knife or sand it off You can also apply a thin layer of glue and put a new layer of rolled
out PaperClay on top . Once the material is dry, it will maintain its shape unless you
immerse it in water. You can even use an oven to speed the drying process. General
information on use of the product, a variety of craft projects, and online store for the
product can be found here:
http://www.paperclay.com/index.htm
Flooring
The floor in the picture is a simple black and white checkerboard. A number of products
are on the market which create flooring that is in scale. Your miniatures or hobby store
will have a variety of brands of flooring that can be pasted into your display, some in
sheet form and some as individual tiles. You can also create your own flooring, either by
painting a checkerboard grid in black and white directly on the floor, or on paper or card
which can be inserted into the box. You also can opt to make your own tiles from air
drying or oven baked clay and lay a floor.
The following magazine articles contain tips on tile flooring. They were obtained from a
very valuable index on the NAME website:
General Subject
tips for laying wood, tile, carpet
linoleum tile – Thomas
p56
tile
tile
tile
tile
checkerboard tile
tile from paint
simulated tile
Magazine
Issue Date
Nutshell News
1/94
Miniature Collector 4/98
Page
p84
Miniature Collector
Miniature Collector
American Miniaturist
NAME Gazette
Nutshell News
Nutshell News
Nutshell News
p24
p 24
p 44
p 32
p 68
p 39
p107
7/99
8/99
3/03
11/04
7/64
2/95
8/92
vinyl tile
Nutshell News
1/92
p105
tiles
American Miniaturist 3/05
p 40
Mirror
Probably the easiest method of reproducing the mirror is to use a computer graphics
program to isolate the mirror from the rest of the picture, resize to fit the proportions of
your scene and then glue to a backing to mount on the wall or glue to the wall itself. If
you are artistic and wish to paint your own scene, you can paint on paper, canvas, a wood
circle, or other support, or, paint onto a round mirror of the appropriate size, leaving out
the reflected items from the room. The mirror will reflect your items that you have placed
in the scene and if your work is a bit different from the pieces in the pictures mirror, the
discrepancies will not show.
General Printables tutorials which may help with the mirror
Printies in Paint http://www.geocities.com/justauntb/index.html
Printables tutorial http://68.38.137.242:8090/dh/Printabletut.html
Furnishing the Room
The furniture in the room can, of course. be purchased or crafted. Plans for two types of
seats have been provided to us by Renaissance Le Corbeau. (See the links to sections for
Peacock Chair and Coffer’s Chair on the Spring issue page) Several online sources for
period furniture are listed in the links below.
Loom
Since the Pre-Raphaelites were more interested in the Romance of the period than in
historical accuracy, most any wooden loom should work for the setting.
Scale miniature looms are available at the following websites:
Weaverlili's Miniature Weaving Looms: 1/12 scale handcrafted looms
http://www.geocities.com/weaverlili/miniloom/
A 4-Harness Jack-type Maple Loom can be found at Maple Leaf Miniatures
http://www.mapleleafminiatures.ca/gallery/v/Loom/loom1.jpg.html
If you order a loom, perhaps you can arrange to have a started tapestry already attached.
Weaving Accessories
Several weaving accessories are included in the scene. There is a basket full of yarn balls.
Miniature baskets are readily available from many sources (shops, shows and online) and
you can roll your balls of yarn from thin threads or fine yarns, being careful to keep
things in scale. Other small weaving items such as shuttles can be made from small
scraps of wood. Modern weaving sites have clear photos of these tools, which have not
changed much over the years and should not be difficult to copy in miniature. At the
bottom left of our Lady of Shalott picture is a yarn swift or winder. The Woolery site has
a modern winder pictured. Some dowels and tiny turnings could be used to adapt the
construction of the modern one to something similar to the one in the picture/
Yarn.com - http://yarn.com/webs/0/1/0/0-0-1113/
The Woolery - http://www.woolery.com/pages/weavaccess.html
Tapestry
You might try to replicate the tapestry in miniature yourself, either by embroidering your
own or printing on fabric or purchase one already made. Here are some sources that may
help you:
An entire site devoted to Medieval embroidery and tapestry.
http://www.advancenet.net/~jscole/medembro.html
Medieval tapestries for sale at SP Miniatures at reasonable prices:
http://www.spminiatures.com/medievalother.html
Miniature needlepoint kits for 1/12 scale dolls houses, suitable for dolls' house wall
hangings or as miniature pictures for the home. Designs based mainly on Celtic,
medieval, and Tudor artwork. Kits include 22 or 24 count fabric, backing fabric, braid
or ribbon, DMC stranded thread, needle, color block chart and key, sewing and finishing
instructions
http://www.knighttimeminiatures.co.uk/
Tutorials for printing on fabric:
http://www.rebeccachulew.com/ezine/printingonfabric.html
http://www.cynthiahoweminiatures.com/fabricprinting.htm
Furniture sources
Ann High Co. Carved and painted Medieval, Tudor and Arts and Crafts miniature
furniture by IGMA artisan Ann High.
http://www.annhigh.co.uk/
Pear Tree Miniatures The miniature furniture on this site has been made by Barbara
Moore, inspired by antiques in books and museums, and by furniture illustrated in
paintings.
http://uk.geocities.com/[email protected]/samples.html
Sue and Alan’s Little Treasures - Supplies Tudor/Medieval furniture and houses.
http://www.saalt.co.uk/shop_pages/shop_acc_furniture.shtml
A few books are available which give directions for items from the Tudor period. Two
that I found are:
Medieval furniture: "Making Dolls' House Interiors in 1/12 Scale" by Carol and Nigel
Lodder, 1997, has plans and instructions for a Tudor Room, giving instructions for the
room box itself done as either a kitchen or parlour and for furniture.
"Dolls' House Needlecrafts' by Venus Dodge, 1995, has Tudor soft furnishings and
accessories.